Romance

The Spirit of Christmas (2015)

The Spirit of Christmas (2015)

Director:

David Jackson

Starring:

Thomas Beaudoin

Kati Salowsky

Jen Lilley

Plot:

Kate, a workaholic lawyer, has three weeks to get a haunted bed and breakfast appraised and sold. The uncooperative manager claims a spirit who lives there will not approve.

Review:

So this movie is about a hipster ghost. I actually really liked it, oddly enough. I love all the supernatural stuff in Christmas movies and this one really embraced it. There was very little time spent on proving he was what he said he was and they jumped right into trying to get him to move on.

The romance was sweet, though, a bit weird, because he was a ghost. He also was in love with a woman before he died and part of why he was still around was because of her. I realize that was a few decades ago but he pointed out a few times it was still fresh for him.

The ending left me with some questions, but overall I really liked it and I hope to find more like this one.

4/5

Merry Kissmas (2015)

Merry Kissmas (2015)

Director:

Michael Feifer

Starring:

Karissa Lee Staples

Brant Daugherty

David O’Donnell

Plot:

A woman engaged to marry a self-centered film and stage director/choreographer falls for a caterer whom she kisses, as does he for her.

Review:

This movie was like a reverse Christmas movie because instead of following the “good” people it followed the bad, only it tried to make them out to be good. They weren’t evil or anything, but the argument could be made that they weren’t good.

Basically, the girl is engaged and is also the personal manager to her fiancé, who happens to freaking love Christmas, but the “spark” in their relationship is gone. He actually expects her to work and isn’t constantly doting on her. He’s trying to put on a production of the Nutcracker, he’s busy, he can’t go shopping and walk around looking at stuff. Sure he could have been a bit more attentive, but if he was when he wasn’t in a time crunch surely you could expect things to get better once the time crunch was over. Instead she ends up accosting this poor man in an elevator, she’s trying to escape some woman that she had been talking to and just bailed on in the middle of a conversation, so naturally that means kissing the first man she comes into contact with, didn’t even ask first. She ends up kissing him twice, then heads back to her fiancé.

More stuff happens, she ends up breaking things off with her fiancé because he acts jealous, when he had every reason to be. Her fiancé has an opportunity to cheat and doesn’t, he tries to patch things up, but by that point she’s moved on to the elevator dude.

Honestly, if this had been a true reverse Christmas movie and didn’t try to act like the leads were the good guys then I might have liked it more.

3/5

Back to Christmas (2014)

Back to Christmas (2014)

Director:

Tim O’Donnell

Starring:

Kelly Overton

Michael Muhney

Gloria Loring

Plot:

A woman travels back one year in time to the Christmas before her broken engagement and tries to repair what went wrong. She discovers that this is a challenging undertaking.

Review:

Alright, we’ve got a Christmas do over! Ali, Kelly Overton, thinks her entire life would be better if she hadn’t “over reacted” and dumped her boyfriend. Once she goes back we quickly realize he’s a tool and deserved so much more, but of course it takes her a while to catch on.

Her mother was borderline just no and there could probably be a whole movie or thirty minute side story about how she needs to finally live the life she wants.

The “angel” or whatever she was looked like a hooker when we first met her, which was kind of awesome. She was one of the best parts of the movie actually and I enjoyed each of her visits, even though she was a bit weird at first.

Ali ends up with the right guy, of course, but I thought the movie focused too much on the other dude and you didn’t really feel like the romance was there. There wasn’t much chemistry with the actress with either of the guys, actually.

Overall, cute movie.

4/5 (Christmas movies will now be getting an extra star unless otherwise mentioned, just because I feel like it)

A Princess for Christmas (2011)

A Princess for Christmas (2011)

Director:

Michael Damian

Starting:

Katie McGrath

Roger Moore

Sam Heughan

Plot:

At the invitation of an estranged relative, a young woman travels with her niece and nephew to a castle in Europe for Christmas, where she unwittingly falls for a dashing Prince.

Review:

Christmas and royalty and romance, a combination I’m only now realizing I enjoy.

Snow and pretty horses, check.

Snobby, grasping blond, check.

Cheesy dialogue, longing glances, and a complete castle transformation for Christmas, check.

Last, but not least, a misunderstanding that almost ruins it all, check.

I love the predictable nature of these movies. I don’t even mind the fact that the actress occasionally lost her American accent. Or that the teenage boy had a really creepy/pervy look several times throughout the movie. It was exactly what I was looking for and I hope I’m able to find more.

Oddly enough, or maybe not, it’s really very similar to A Christmas Prince which I watched earlier. Honestly, it might end up making my yearly rotation, I don’t know why I liked it just a little bit more than A Christmas Prince, even though Rose McIver was really great in that version.

4/5 

A Christmas Prince (2017)

A Christmas Prince (2017)

Director:

Alex Zamm

Starring:

Rose McIver

Ben Lamb

Alice Krige

Plot:

When a reporter goes undercover as a tutor to get the inside scoop on a playboy prince, she gets tangled in some royal intrigue and ends up finding love – but will she be able to keep up her lie?

Review:

I was not expecting to see a Netflix Original Movie like this one, though, I should have been. Cheap Christmas movies are perfect for Netflix, they should make more because this one seemed like it had a slightly larger budget than a Hallmark movie and Rose McIver was a much better actress than we normally get. However, it still had all the things I love about cheesy Christmas movies.

Sweet romance, check.

Snow and Christmas decorations, check.

Misunderstandings that lead to an almost horrible ending, check.

A sweet child and an American woman that saves Christmas and an entire countries political future, um, check.

Really enjoyed this movie, though, I don’t think it’s going to become a yearly tradition. I might end up watching it again though. If you’re a fan of Hallmark Christmas movies then you’ll love this one.

3.5/5